Hosiery suspending device



y 9, 1950 w. c. WAGENER 2,506,910

HOSIERY SUSPENDING DEVICE Filed Dec. 12, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 9, 1950 UNIT-E o STATES e r em OFFICE 2,506,910 HosrE'RY sUs'PENni'NG sewer William G. Wagener, Gary, Ind assigncr to Bear Brand Hosiery 00., Kankakee; 111., a corporation of'illinoi's Kpplic'ationfDecember "12, maseriai No. 715,801.

This invention relates to improvements in devices for suspending textile articles, such as hosiery, while they are undergoing a process of treatment in an enclosed chamber or the like and it may be used with particular advantage in supportingjstockings knitted from synthetic linear polyamid'e fibers such as. nylon while the hosiery is being subjected to a presetting operation by exposure to the action of. steam or water vapor. The present invention is an improvement on that described. and claimed in United States Letters Patent to George Dunn and Henry Richter, No. 2,340,520, dated February 1, 1944, and the device of the present invention may be used, for example, in supporting hosiery or other textile articles in an enclosed treating chamber of the type disclosed in United States Letters Patent of George E Dunn, No. 2,350,021, dated May 30, 1944.

In said Letters Patent No. 2,340,520, there is shown a former hosiery suspending device comprising a plurality of upwardly extending needles upon which the. tips of the toe portions of the hosiery are adapted to be impaled so that the stockings are suspended from these needles in the treating chamber and have no support except that provided by the needles. A stripping plate is mounted for relative movem'ent'with respect to the needles and after the treating of the hosiery has been completed, this stripping device is moved to cause the hosiery to be discharged from the needles. Inthis: prior device, the stripping device. occupies. 'a 'position at thebottoms of the needles during the treating operation and the upper ends of the needles are protected by a shroud or cap member which is spaced somewhat'fro'm'the needles when it is in its lower position with its outer marginal flange extending somewhat below the upper ends of the needles. After the treatmenthas been concluded, both the 'stri-ppingdevice and the shroud are moved upwardly with respect to -the needles and the stripping device travels" to a level substantially above the tips of the needles so that'the hosiery is thereby discharged f'rom engagement with the needles and is compelled to. fall by gravity into .2 result that the needles'become damaged and havetobe replaced at intervals.

The principal object of the present invention is to overcome the above-mentioned difficulties by providing an improved hosiery suspending device or the type referred to in which the rela-' tive movement of the stripping plate and the needles is effected to discharge the hosiery from the needles, while'maintaining a continuous contact between the needles and the stripping plate so that the stripping plate does not engage and: damage the points of the'needles when it is returned to its normal. lower position. A further object of the invention is'to provide a hosiery suspending device comprising a series of needles and a relatively movable stripping plate provided with a plurality of relatively small apertures which are continuously engaged by the needles in all of the positions of the stripping plate. Still another object of the invention is to provide a hosiery suspending device comprising a series of needles and a cooperating stripping plate having needle receiving apertures which. have tapered walls so that there is only a line contact between a needle and its aperture in all of the positions of the stripping plate. A further object of the invention is to provide a hosiery suspending device comprising a series of needles and a relatively movable stripping plate having apertures continuously engaged by the needles and havicn a range of travel such that, when the stripping plate is in the position to discharge the hosiery from the needles, the points of the needles will be substantially flush with or project only slightly above the upper surface of the stripping plate. Other objects and advantages of the invention, relating to various features of construction and arrangement, will appear more fully hereinafter.

The nature of the invention will be understood from the following specification taken with the accompanying drawings in which one embodiment is illustrated. In the drawings,

Figure 1 shows a side elevation of the improved hosiery suspending device of the present. invention witha plurality of stockings suspended from the needles and'with both the stripping plate and the protecting" shroud in their lower positions which they occupy during the operation of the hosiery treating process, the position of the protecting shroud during the operation of placing hosiery on the needles being illustrated. by dotted lines;

a Fig. 2 shows'a side elevation of the device ilmoved upwardly by a manual operation to cause the upward movement of the stripping plate to its stripping position wherein the stockings are discharged from the ends of the needles;

Fig. 3 shows a vertical axial section through the hosiery suspending device shown in Figs. 1 and 2 with the parts in the relative positions which they occupy in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 shows a horizontal section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 shows a horizontal section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 3 with the protecting shroud in the lower position which is illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 shows an enlarged detail section through the hub of the protecting shroud and associated parts illustrating the operation of the shroud in releasing the spring by which the shroud is held at times in the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1;

Fig. 7 shows an enlarged vertical section through the lateral portion of the retaining and supporting members by which the needles are secured in position; and

Fig. 8 shows a top plan view of the details illustrated in Fig. 7 with a portion of the inner clamping member cut away.

As illustrated in the drawings, the improved hosiery suspending device 50 comprises a stem or spindle ll of cylindrical form provided at its upper end with a collar lid and having attached to the upper end thereof a hook l2 by which it may be suspended from a support during the operation of placing hosiery on the needles and during the subsequent treatment of the hosiery in a treating chamber. The spindle ll has a reduced portion l lb at the lower end thereof which is engaged by a cup-shaped retaining member l3 and a clamping member 24, both of circular form, which are centrally apertured to be fitted by the part llb. These members l3 and M are secured on the stem or spindle ll by a washer l5 and a nut I6 which engage the threaded part llb. As shown particularly in Figs. '7 and 8, the annular flange But of the retaining member and the outer annular surface Ma of the clamping member are both flared outwardly and upwardly and the surface la is provided at intervals with equally spaced upwardly extending grooves Mb, of semicircular cross section, which are adapted to be fitted by portions of the lower ends of the steel needles H. The flange 3a of the retaining member is spaced suificiently from the surface I la of the clamping member to accommodate the thicknesses of the needles l? which are seated in the grooves Mb while at the same time contacting the outer edges of these needles. With the needles assembled in the grooves Nb and the retaining member l3 loosely applied thereto, the tightening of the nut it will bring about a wedging action between the retaining member and the clamping member so that the needles will then be held firmly in position and will be inclined upwardly and outwardly.

The stem or spindle H has slidably mounted thereon a sleeve 29 which has its lower end fitted within and secured to the hub portion Zia of the stripping plate 2! which is provided in the radial disc portion thereof with a series of apertures 212) having side walls 2: each of which is engaged at all times by one of the needles l'l. When the needles are loaded with hosiery 22, as shown in Fig. l, the stripping plate 2| rests on the upper surfaces of the members I3 and I 4 and its annular flange 2 l0 extends downwardly around the outer margin of the member l3, as illustrated in Fig. 1. The sleeve 20 is adapted to be moved upwardly to a position wherein its upper end engages the collar I la at the upper end of the spindle and when in that position, the stripping plate occupies the positions shown in Figs. 2 and 3 wherein the points of the needles I! extend only slightly above the upper surface 2 Id of the stripping plate, this projection being so limited that the movement of the stripping plate to this position will cause the hosiery to be discharged from the needles as shown in Fig. 2. It will be ob served that the holes 2lb in the stripping plate, although of circular cross section, are flared upwardly and that, when the strippin plate is in its upper position, the needles I! are bowed between their upper and lower ends, thus causing the needles to have line contacts only with the walls of the apertures 2lb so that the frictional wear caused by relative movement of the stripping plate with respect to the needles is reduced to a minimum.

For the purpose of effecting a manual upward movement of the sleeve 20, a combined protecting shroud and operating member 23 is provided. This member has a central hub portion 23a provided with a relatively fixed hard metal bushing 23b which slides upon the sleeve 20 and which has both of its end surfaces tapered outwardly away from the sleeve as shown at 230 for a purpose hereinafter described. The member 23 is provided at its outer margin with a downwardly extending annular flange 23d and when the shroud 23 is in its lower position, as shown in Fig. 1, the flange 23d extends somewhat below the plane of the upper ends of the needles IT so that the needles are thereby protected. When the shroud 23 is in this lower position, its hub 23a is adapted to rest upon the hub Zia of the stripping plate 2i which will then be in its lower position as shown in Fig. 1. In order that the shroud 23 may be used as an operating member to effect upward movement of the sleeve 20, a collar 24 is secured to the upper end of the sleeve 20 in a position to be engaged by the upper end of the shroud 23 so that after the shroud has been seized by the fingers of the operator, it may be moved into engagement with the collar 24 and this collar and the sleeve 20 may then be moved upwardly from the position shown in Fig. l to the position shown in Fig. 2, thereby moving the stripping plate 2| to its stripping position.

In order to support the shroud 23 in an inoperative position at the time that the needles I! are being loaded with hosiery, a leaf spring 25 is secured to the stem or spindle II, as shown particularly in Figs. 3 and 6. One end 25a of this spring is secured in a transverse aperture I la formed in the spindle and the spring extends outwardly from this fixed end opposite a groove lld which is formed in the spindle. The spring terminates at its upper end in a bowed portion 251) having an extremity 25c adapted to move into an aperture He formed in the spindle when the spring is compressed. When the spring is in its normal outer position as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, it may be utilized to support the shroud 23 in its inoperative position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, thereby permitting the operator to place the tips of the toe portions of the stockings 22 over the needles. When the several needles have been loaded with the desired number of stockings, the shroud 23' is moved downwardly over the spring 25 to the position shown by the full lines in Fig. 1. During this operation, the tapered end surface 23c of the bushing 23b engages the bowed portion of the spring 25 and wedges it inwardly into the groove lid, as illustrated in Fig. 6. The device ill with its lead of hosiery 22 is then ready to be moved to the treating chamber.

After the treating process has been carried out, the suspending device i6 is removed from the chamber and placed upon a temporary support with the treated hosiery suspended therefrom. Then, the operator seizes the shroud 23 and moves it upwardly on the sleeve '25), thereby causing the tapered upper end surface of the bushing 23b to wedge the spring 25 into the groove 5 id so that the shroud is permitted to pass over the spring and to travel to the upper end of the sleeve where it engages the collar 24. Further upward movement of the shroud 23 then elevates the sleeve 26 from the position shown in Fig. 1 to that shown in Figs. 2 and 3, thereby moving the stripping plate 2! and causing the stockings '22 to be discharged from the needles in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2. In order to decrease the weight of the device, all of the parts 13, M, and 23 are preferably provided in the horizontal portions thereof with relatively large apertures.

Although one form of the invention has been shown or described by way of illustration, it will be understood that it may be constructed in various other forms which come within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a device of the class described, a support, a needle mounted on said support to carry by impalement a textile article, a stripping plate having an aperture with a side wall engaged by said needle, means for moving said plate to strip said needle, and means for limiting the movement of said plate to maintain continuous engagement of said needle with said side wall.

2. In a device of the class described, a support, a needle mounted on said support to carry by impalement a textile article, a stripping plate having an aperture with a side wall engaged by said needle, means for moving said plate to strip said needle, and means for limiting the movement of said plate to maintain continuous engagement of said needle with said side wall, said needle having its point substantially flush with the face of said plate when said plate is in stripping position.

3. In a device of the class described, a support,

a needle mounted on said support to carry by impalement a textile article, a stripping plate having an aperture with a side wall engaged by said needle, means for moving said plate to strip said needle, and means for limiting the movement of said plate to maintain continuous contact of said needle with the wall of said aperture, said needle having a line contact with the wall of said aperture.

4. In a device of the class described, a supporting stem, means carried by said stem for supporting an annular series of upwardly extending needles mounted to have a normal outward inclination from their lower ends, said needles being adapted to carry by impalement a plurality of textile articles, a stripping plate slidably mounted on said stem and having a plurality of apertures with side walls each engaged by one of said needles, the walls of said apertures being flared upwardly, means for moving said plate upwardly to strip said textile articles from said needles, and means for limiting the movement of said plate to maintain continuous engagement of said needles with said side walls, said needles being bowed between their ends and having line contacts with the flared walls of said apertures when said plate is in its uppermost position.

5. In a device of the class described, a supporting stem, means carried by said stem for supporting a plurality of upwardly extending needles, said needles being adapted to carry by impalement a plurality of textile articles, a sleeve slidably mounted on said stem, a stripping plate carried by said sleeve and provided with a plurality of apertures having side walls engaged by said needles, means for moving said sleeve upwardly on said stem to cause said plate to eject said textile articles from said needles, and means for limiting the upward movement of said sleeve and thereby maintaining said needles continuously in contact with the walls of said apertures.

WILLIAM C. WAGENER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,637,688 Emel Aug. 2, 1927 1,858,595 Parker et a1 May 17, 1932 2,340,520 Dunn et a1 Feb. 1, 1944 Certificate of Correction Patent No. 2,506,910 May 9, 1950 WILLIAM C. WAGENER It is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specification of the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows:

Column 6, line 18, for the words with side Walls each read each with side walls;

and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Ofiice. Signed and sealed this 15th day of August, A. D. 1950.

THOMAS F. MURPHY,

Assistant Commissioner of Patents. 

